Project Proposal
“How did you make this meal Pop”, I joke with my grandfather, knowing very well that my grandmother, Honey, made the entire meal. “You know I just mix the white stuff in with the other stuff and I mix it around a little bit” Pop jokes back. The whole family shares a laugh as we sit down for Passover dinner at my grandparent’s house, a tradition that has lasted my entire life.
Passover is a Jewish holiday when the adults share the story of the Jews’ escape from slavery in Egypt. The Jewish people were enslaved for hundreds of years before Moses led them out of Egypt and made the journey to the land that is now Israel. This story is presented through a platter of food, consisting of a Shank bone, an egg, bitter herbs, paste made of apples, nuts and wine, a vegetable, and lettuce, presented on the Seder plate. Each of these foods is symbolic of a part of the Passover story. It is important to tell children the story of passover to learn of the struggles and determination of Jewish people in the past. I am very lucky to have grown up in an environment where I rarely saw anti-semitism, but I realize that even Pop and Popsy grew up in more volatile environments than me.
Pop has been a huge influence in my life. I look up to him in everything I do, especially making sure I put my family first and keeping my Jewish faith strong. His father Popsy came to America from Romania, which was notoriously one of the most anti-semitic countries in Europe when Louis lived there. He lived in Romania until he was nineteen years old and through all of the discrimination he kept his faith in his Judaism strong.
My whole childhood has been shaped by my Jewish heritage. I went to pre-school at the local Jewish community center before going to elementary school at the N.E. Miles Jewish Day School. Even in seventh grade when I moved to a public school, I continued to go to Hebrew school at my temple every Sunday. I even went to a Jewish summer camp for a month every year for eleven years. Although I am very proud of my Judaism, I have never looked back into my family history to explore where our strong values came from.
Through researching my family’s history, I hope to relate the life of Louis Black to the story of Passover. I am very lucky that Popsy wrote an autobiography later in his life recounting his upbringing. I am going to use this autobiography to find out more about what kind of a man that Popsy was. I will also use Ancestry.com to try to find more about my family and to confirm when Louis came to America from Romania.
I will also interview Pop to see what he remembers of his late father. Pop, much like Popsy, went through similar instances of anti-semitism in Savannah where he grew up. Although he does not cook the Passover meal, even though he will try to convince you that he does, he embodies both the values of our family and the lessons that can be learned from the story of passover.
Below are the questions I plan on asking Pop when I interview him. Knowing Pop and how much he has to say, I am going to be flexible and let the conversation dictate any additional questions.
1) What are some of your earliest memories of Popsy?
2) What are some of your earliest memories of anti-Semitism, if there was any, growing up in Savannah?
3) What are some of Popsy’s characteristics that’s you are most proud of and what can I learn from Popsy?
4) How do you think your relationship with Popsy translates to your relationship with your children, especially my father?
5) What is your favorite story of Popsy?
6) How are you and Popsy different?
7) Popsy wrote in his book about his involvement with the Free Masons, can you expand on this and how it affected you growing up?
8) Throughout his book, Popsy makes it clear that he was often very sick, do you remember this being a big part of your childhood?
9) What about Popsy do you think it was that allowed him to be such an effective leader in almost every organization he joined.
10) Do you think Popsy’s love of charity has made a big impact on your life?
11) What can you remember about Popsy’s mother that can help me understand how his upbringing affected his personality later in life?
